The present invention relates to electrostatographic reproducing apparatus and more particularly to a removable processing cartridge for use in such apparatus together with the means to maintain the position of the cartridge in its operative position.
In the electrostatographic reproducing apparatus commonly in use today, a photoconductive insulating member is typically charged to uniform potential and thereafter exposed to a light image of an original document to be reproduced. The exposure discharges the photoconductive insulating surface in exposed or background areas and creates an electrostatic latent image on the member which corresponds to the image areas contained within the usual document. Subsequently, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive insulating surface is made visible by developing the image with developing powder referred to in the art as toner. Most development systems employ a developer material which comprises both charged carrier particles and charged toner particles which triboelectrically adhere to the carrier particles. During development the toner particles are attracted from the carrier particles by the charge pattern of the image areas in the photoconductive insulating area to form a powder image on the photoconductive area. This image may subsequently be transferred to a support surface such as copy paper to which it may be permanently affixed by heating or by the application of pressure.
The electrostatographic reproducing apparatus commercially available today vary from the 9000 series of products available from Xerox Corporation to the small products in the small volume market designed for use by the casual user. Typical of the small volume products are the 3100 Family of Products available from Xerox Corporation. In each of these machines, the processor section of the reproducing apparatus is divided into at least two frame portions, an upper and lower frame portion which each contain various sections of the processing equipment. Typically the frame portions are hinged or pivoted about one end relative to one another. This machine configuration enables the user to readily attend to any particular machine malfunction such as a copy sheet being jammed in the paper path. As the uses of such automatic reproducing apparatus become more varied, and particularly as the desire for the casual user to use such low volume products manufacturers have designed smaller and more inexpensive products. To reach the casual user market, it is increasingly important to drive the simplicity and convenience of operation up as well as the cost of operation and replacement down. One way in which this may be accomplished is to place one or more electrostatographic processing stations in a replaceable processing cartridge which can be mounted in the frame of the reproducing apparatus. However the conventional hinges, counterbalances, locks, guide members, etc., all conventionally used for mounting such a cartridge, are relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble in a machine. It is accordingly a desire to provide a relatively low cost mount for such removable processing cartridge.
Furthermore in an attempt to produce a less expensive reproducing copier and one which has very little if any maintenance, it has been suggested to incorporate one or more processing stations of the apparatus in a disposable or removable cartridge. In this way the casual user can readily remove the cartridge when its operational life has been exhausted and insert a new cartridge. This also provides the advantage of being able to use less expensive functional features such as the photoreceptor than in a conventional copier.